Eden
by eskimobee
Summary: Eden Powell never knew her daddy. Her mommy said it was a stupid question to ask. What happens when someone else asks the question? !Oneshot! *Random thought spider* Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Eden Powell never knew her daddy. Mommy said it was a stupid question. Mommy said men weren't worth squat. In an effort to shut her up, her mother had gone on countless dates over the years, saying that the man would be her new daddy. But after a while, even the ones who stuck around after the first date, would up and leave. Mommy would blame Eden. Mommy would hit Eden, usually with the back of her hand.  
The longest Eden went without food was 3 days 22 hours and 29 minutes. She had counted. It had only been when her mother had thrown some wilted salad into a bowl and poured tuna mayonnaise into it that she'd been able to eat.  
Eden was too young to feed herself.

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"Hey, Nick we got a 419 on Beaver Street. Probable homicide."

Nick looked up and followed DB out the door. They got to the suburban scene and aside from the tape, everything seemed normal. Inside, an unconscious woman was being strapped to a gurney, to be loaded into the ambulance outside. Further in, they came across a large man, covered in blood, with an obvious GSW to the chest.

"Our guess is the Jane Doe shoots this John Doe. Then passes out from possible drug overdose." Jim gestured to a pile of drug paraphernalia on the kitchenette counter. "Probably couldn't pay, so she whacked him."

"Well, thanks for the input but we're going to let the evidence tell us what's going on." DB said in his usual calm, yet examining tone "There was a child here recently." He pointed out a doll lying under one of the stools. "Probably a girl, maybe five to ten."

"I'll bag it." Nick said, photographing and lifting the doll into an evidence bag

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Eden was scared. Her mommy was never gone for this long. Five days, eight hours. She had been eating from the cupboards, afraid to go near the cooker. She knew what she could eat without cooking. But, after five days, things were running low. She was so scared.  
A knock at the door.  
_"Don't open the door to anyone. I will open it with a key when I get back, which might be tomorrow."_

It hadn't been tomorrow. Mommy had broken her promise. She wouldn't break hers. Eden went to her room and listened as the knocking continued intermittently for half an hour. She knew after this long that they wouldn't go away.

The stool. Eden dragged it from the bathroom to the door. She could just about see through the peephole. There was a strange man. Two. One of them was wearing a police officer uniform.

"Eden?" the man at the front called loudly, his voice slightly muffled by the door "Eden are you in there?"

Eden got down from the stool and moved it back to the bathroom. The man started to call her name again "Eden, can you open the door? I'm a police officer."

Eden stood staring at the door. She could hear muffled voices talking, and then she heard scratching, like a key, but different. Eden ran to her room and shut the door, grabbing Mr Bunny and hiding in her closet.

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They had a name, Annabelle Powell. There was a child too, but she wasn't at the scene. It took five days to find out and get to the house. Her name was Eden.

Nick's face had flashed with recognition at the name, when DB had briefed the team. He couldn't place it. Annabelle Powell. Where did he know her from?

Powell was in custody. There was apparently no family that could take the girl so, after she had been processed, child services would take over.

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She lay on a bed in a strange place. Where was she? Where was Eden? Home. She had to go home, to Eden. Eden had no food.

"Ms Powell. We have your daughter, Eden."

"What are you doing with her?" She heard her strangely alien voice croak "Leave her alone. I have to go look after her."

"You are in no state to do that. You're also in our custody for drug possession and child endangerment, abandonment and neglect."

"What the hell? I was only supposed to be gone a few hours at most. How long has it been that you're accusing me of all these things?"

"Five days."

She was left in her stunned silence, as her rights were read.

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"We could try running a DNA search for the girl's father. Or look for some distant relative." Henry had suggested followed by "I can't however just push a few buttons and make it happen. I need a warrant. And that's only if he's in the system."

"Which would suggest that he's not an ideal father."

Hours later, they had a warrant, signed by a judge they knew to be inclined towards family rights. The paternal search was under way.

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"Eden, do you know anything about your daddy?" The little girl shook her head. DB sighed a little. "Well, do you want to know how we can find him?" The girl nodded cautiously. He pulled out a swab and said "Can you do me a favour and rub this all around your mouth?" she took it and did so "Thank you, Eden. Now, I'm not guaranteeing that you'll ever see him, but this little stick can help us have a go at finding out who he is." The cap on the swab was closed and Sara had come to take over from DB for a while. She had brought a sandwich and a soda.

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"Hey, Russell. I need to tell you something." Nick said as Russell passed by on his way to the DNA lab.

"In a minute, Nick. I need to get this to DNA." He waved him off and opened said DNA lab door. "Hey, this is Eden Powell's DNA sample."

All that was left was to extract the profile and run the familial search.

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Eden was asleep. She was dreaming of the man again. The one from mommy's secret pictures. She'd never met him, but she imagined the smile he wore in every single picture.

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"DB. I got a hit on Eden's father. You are _not_ going to believe this." The piece of paper was handed over. Further words exchanged, the man contacted. He stepped into the room where the girl was sleeping. He saw Nick sitting talking with her.

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The man! The one from mommy's pictures! He was here! He spoke in a nice voice "Eden, do you know who I am?"

She heard her little voice say "Daddy?"


	2. AN

Sorry about this, it's not a new chapter, just an author's note:

So I was thinking of going ahead with this and the whole Nick has a daughter thing, when I thought I could go another way.  
So I decided, as it's a thought spider, I can branch off where I want. I'm going to post 2 new stories. One of which where Nick IS Eden's father and one where he isn't. So watch this space.

daydreamerkid xx


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